He has now told The Huffington Post that though "sticks and stones may break [his] bones", the public needs to take such terms seriously.

"The thing is, it's interesting that anyone would call me a child molester because what I think that does is belittles true child molesters, the ones out there that are really molesting children. We can't do that," he noted.

"My and Courtney's marriage is legal, it's moral and it's within the law. I'm not a child molester, so anyone who says that I'm not going to take it to heart. I only care about what my loved ones think about me and no-one else."

He also said that he and his teenage wife have a "normal" life, and love watching old TV re-runs together.